Why Antelope Lives In the Bush
Copyright © Anike Foundation
In an ancient community, Goat and Antelope once shared a home with an owner. While they were being tamed, they were told not to tamper with their owner’s food supply. Goat and Antelope were herbivores, so they were only expected to eat grass.
But each time their owner or his wife returned from the farm with yams or vegetables, Goat and Antelope would leave for the farm and eat the food that had grown there. When their owner and his wife returned to the farm and found that the food there had been eaten, they would become irate, and warn Antelope and Goat not to repeat their actions.
One day, the owner’s wife went to the farm and came home with the only tuber of yam left in the barn. It was planting season and they had planted their yams. She had put her pot on the stove in the kitchen, and had carried the tuber of yam on a tray.
Intending to peel the yam, she placed the tray on the ground and remembered that she had left her knife inside the house.
Immediately, she went back to retrieve it. When she returned, she discovered that Goat had eaten the yam.
“Oh, no!” she cried. She took her cane and immediately began to flog Goat.
As she was flogging Goat, Antelope came in and saw how her friend was being treated.
She and Goat pleaded for forgiveness, and their master’s wife heeded after she struck Goat in the back.
Antelope sympathized with Goat, retrieved some herbs, and treated her.
Another evening, Antelope roamed the back of the house and found vegetables sitting on the tray. Quickly, she began to eat them. When the owner’s wife discovered Antelope, she flogged him to a state of stupor. Antelope was weeping when Goat came into the house.
“What’s the matter?” Goat asked. “We cannot survive on grass and tuber peals alone, sometimes we also need part of what they eat. If they refuse to share their food with us, then we shall take what we find.”
“I cannot do that. How long am I going to receive these insults?” Antelope asked.
“Well, I am ready to take these insults as long as I live,” Goat replied.
One morning, their master’s wife boiled a pot of water to cook beans for her family. She had used a sieve to separate the beans from the stones. Suddenly, it began to rain, and the wife went to retrieve some bowls in order to collect rainwater. As soon as she left, Goat and Antelope entered the kitchen and devoured the beans. When the wife discovered this, she told the owner of the incident, and both began to beat Goat and Antelope like they had never done before.
The beatings were so severe that Goat and Antelope had to be taken to the neighboring village for treatment. After they recovered and returned home, Antelope decided that she couldn’t bear the beatings anymore. Goat pleaded with her to bear the pain. She knew she had to bear the pain to survive, but Antelope refused goat’s plea because she knew she could survive in the bush without their tamers.
Once again, Goat and Antelope ate their owners’ yam, and were threatened with another beating. Before the owners managed to act, Antelope told Goat that she could not stand another punishment, and ran away. Because Antelope knew that she could fend for herself, she was able to escape punishment.
However, Goat did not believe in her own independence, and therefore suffered another beating. When the beating was finished, Goat stood up and dusted herself down.
In order to survive, Goat tried to convince herself that, because of the punishment, she was stronger and more able to live with her owner.
However, try as she might, Goat could not shake off the idea that Antelope had managed to escape the beatings because she believed in her ability to act independently. Due to Goat’s lack of confidence, she would not be able to escape her owner and was doomed to live with him until today.